Phoenix Rising
by Night1212
Summary: Death was apart of our life. We knew it was going to happen, someday. Someday we'd die, by strigoi or natural causes. We just didn't ink we would see them so soon. And b. We didn't think there'd be an attack that only a handful of the students survived.


**book one: chapter 1**

 **Erika POV**

 _ **2004**_

The nightmares started the night after the attack. The screams and their faces haunted me long after I woke up. There were signs, that could have saved our school.

The day started out like any other, I woke up and met with Rachael (that's my best friend, we usually call her Rae) on our way to the great hall for breakfast. As we walked, we fell into the same routine we'd had since we could talk, or at least since we were old enough to understand what was really happening around us.

We gossiped about our night, who was dating who, and what we'd heard on this popular thing called _the Internet._ The Great Hall was loud and noisy, like it was every morning. Rae and I walked in, grabbed breakfast, well I did Rae just sat with us and waited for the first bell to ring so the school day could start. Breakfast was the same everyday for me: tea, biscuits, and whatever fruit was placed in front of me. Today was November fith, otherwise known as Guy Fawkes Day, and all of us were still mad at the teachers for not allowing us to celebrate the holiday. Roxane was still furious that we couldn't participate.

"Who do they think they are! Taking away our holiday, it's _our_ right!"

"You know Roxie, it sounds like you're whining."

"You're no better, 'rik." came the quiet voice of Rae. "Weren't you just complaining about it? While getting your food?"

"Shut up Rae" I said with a smile on my face.

She stuck her tongue out at me and before any of us could continue the conversation farther, the bell rang and the five of us realised we were going to be late _again_ , since we'd clearly missed the other students clearing out. Was it considered late if you were _always_ the last to arrive? I mean you'd think the teachers would be used to it by now.

"We need a group picture! We didn't take one before the school year started." It was a tradition of our tiny group. Since we'd been best friends, which was only since Secondary school started (meaning we were 11 when we met), we took a picture so we could remember how much had changed.

Asking one of the staff if they'd be kind enough to take the picture, we got posed for the picture. Really, it wasn't anything fancy, but it was _our_ pose, _our_ picture.

The staff member was humoring us, by taking the picture without mumbling about how we should already be in class.

After Rae reclaimed her camera, we walked out to the hallways and that was where we parted ways. Amilia, Jamie and I went off the the locker rooms, while Rae, and Roxane went of to their classes.

Which, of course, made us later than normal.

"Adar, James, Gidson! Why are you always late to my class? Do you not want to become guardians? Or do you think that you're better than your classmates and that means that you can show up late to my class?" yelled Guardian Davis. I had been in this situation enough times to know that he did not in fact want an answer. How ever Jamie did not _care_ on this particular day (he'd been late just as much as I had).

With a roll of his eyes, Jamie opened his mouth and I cringed at what came out. "No, we just think we're better than _you_."

"Thirty laps, _**now!**_ " was his answer. He looked like his head would have exploded, and he would've had steam coming out from his ears, had he been in a cartoon.

I hated running and Jamie knew this, why he had to open his fat mouth I'll never know.

"I. Hate. You" I managed to puff out and I ran next to him.

He gave me a cheeky grin in return. "I love you, too." running had always come easier to him than it had me, that didn't mean his legs wouldn't he dead by the end of the thirty laps around the school. I felt bad for Amy, she was hardly ever late, but she took her punishment like a trooper. She was mainly silent the entire run, only giving us encouraging words now and then.

On our second lap something changed. We were right next to the gate, I had to catch my breath, sue me. As I puffed with my hands on my knees, I felt a shift in the air around me and my head snapped up and saw the ugly red eyes of Strigoi.

"Jamie, Am-" my words died in my throat as the dead vampire reached through and grabbed Amy. That was when the panic set in.

I ran like hell. Screw the fact I couldn't breathe, or the fact like my legs felt like they would fall off. I had to run, I had to live and tell the others. Jamie followed close behind; he should've been in front. He was faster, he could have warned them sooner! I couldn't keep looking behind me, I had to focus in front of me, maybe it was a good thing that I didn't.

As we got back to the class, I could barely stand and I couldn't fight the tears that were forming, but I had to keep going, I had to warn the others. "Amilia-" I tried to force out. It wasn't easy; being distraught _and_ breathless. "-a strigoi-" I had to swallow back tears. "There's Strigoi on campus!" I finally got out. Jamie stood next to me and I couldn't hold back my tears anymore.

I turned and cried on his shoulder, he awkwardly patted my back before the six second shock wore off and the other students panicked. There was a split second of panic in Guardian Davis's eyes, so small that it would have been hard to notice it had you not been looking into them. He quickly ushered us into the school and pulled out his walky-talky, he spoke quickly and the only world that I was able to pick out was "Atack". He Then told us to sit tight and not to move, no matter what we heard or saw unless told to by another guardian or senior.

He then left, I never saw him again, and I never bothered to find out what happened to him. The next few minutes were a mix of pure chaos, people were screaming and crying, some were praying, and others were telling each other they loved them. I however could not get Amilia out of my head, on one hand I felt responsible for her death.

If only I didn't insist on that photo, then maybe we wouldn't be late to class, then maybe we wouldn't have had to run and maybe she wouldn't have been killed. My mind also went to Rae, where was she? How was she? Was she already dead or dying?

I was a mess of emotions, but I was a guardian ( kind of) and I didn't have time for this, I had to stay strong and keep it together, for my other classmates. With any luck this would be quick and with very few casualties.

I wasn't naïve, I knew people were going to die, I just hoped there wouldn't been many casualties. I already lost my parents to these fuckers, I wasn't going to lose anymore friends as well. There was a silence. A long pause, like the outcome of the entire battle rested on this moment.

I was the first to move, pushing myself out of Jamie's arms I made my way over to the the door before he grabbed my hand.

"You can't go out there! It's suicide." he said softly. The composure he'd had running and holding me was starting to crumble and he looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. I probably looked the same.

"I _have_ to go out, Jamie!"

"You don't _have_ too! We're still children! We'd only be in the way!"

"That's exactly why we _should_ go! We're teenagers, we can move in smaller group and do as much damage as our elders can!"

"If you're insistent on going, _I'm_ going with you! God only knows how much protection you need from _yourself_!"

And with that statement, Jamie, myself and a few others left the safety of the classroom.

The ground was soaked, but everything was quiet. We walked out a bit more, the waning moon was to our back and the night air that normally felt good during training, was freezing. I instructed everyone to keep a look out.

"They're fast and strong," I whispered. "Don't make a lot of noise, and above all run if you need to. We need to pick our battles, so don't be reckless." We crept around campus.

The first bodies we came to were a group of guardians. They still had their stakes gripped in their hands. We took them, if we were going to protect ourselves then we would have to use more than the wooden ones they provided us with. We didn't see anyone until we were near the Great Hall.

It wasn't someone I barely knew, it wasn't one of the guardians. It wasn't someone who had already signed up, already graduated. It _wasn't_ a Classmate. It was my brother's daughter. It suddenly felt hard to to breath again.

I forced my face to stay passive as I reached down and grabbed her Stake. It was her's, too. LAA was engraved on it in fancy letters. I had to tell Scott. He'd be heartbroken. His only child was dead now, and if things could be worse it was a few weeks before winter hols, her last winter hols of her senior year.

It wasn't fair, my friends were dying, my parents were dead and now my niece was as well. Leigh-Ann was the closest person I had to a real sister. All those nights that we'd spent talking and braiding each other's hair, or the endless hours of baking we'd do over the holidays was over.

Is this how it felt to lose someone you cared for? Really, cared for. Someone you grew up with. The grief was weighing me down. If this was how it felt I don't know if I could handle losing Scott or Rae. I swallowed hard and turned back to the group. "We're going to kick some ass. No more being quiet and not engaging in battle first." I was risking their lives for my niece, and best friend. Who cared?

"That isn't wise." Jamie was the first to contradict me, even if the others were thinking the same. They feared pissed off Adar's, as they should. My brother was a force to reckoned with when anything involved his family. Leigh-Anne and I had been like him in that regard, though we couldn't be more different in how we view our world. She was the one who viewed the world through rose colored glasses. I was more of a cynical. She was always a ask questions then punch sort of girl, I was more a punch first, ask questions later. No matter our differences I still loved her, and now she was gone from me, forever. I think to only redeeming point was the fact that she was killed, and not turned.

I entered the great hall with a stake out and ready. Inside a group of battle weary guardians rose to their feet and made their way over, looking as if they were going to fight.

"I'm a student, we're all students," I called to them signaling for Jamie and the others to come in "We want to help."

It took about six seconds for me to kill my first Strigoi without a thought. My eyes were wide when I realised what had happened. I couldn't stop, if I did I would have been killed. I still hadn't found where Rae and Roxie were, the guardians hadn't told me. The strigoi were lessening, the sun was going to rise soon.

Jamie and I were tired, and we fought with our backs together, I stumbled when the pressure disappeared. I jerked my head around to see him in the arms of a strigoi, his skin paling every second. I felt my muscles lock up, and I couldn't do anything. I felt Leigh-Anne's stake slipping from my hand and I forced my hand to tighten around it.

My mouth opened as if to scream, but no sound came out. Jamie was draining. The Strigoi was feeding their blood to him. My friend was going to be a monster and I _couldn't_ stop it. I froze, I couldn't move and time seemed to stop. I hesitated.

When the monster was complete Jamie fell to the ground. The Strigoi ran off and left Jamie to fend for himself. The _thing_ that got up was not Jamie. It looked like him, it moved like him, it had the same tone as him (even if the warmth was gone) and I _knew_ it wasn't him, but what I saw and what I knew where different. I saw _Jamie_.

"Come on _Erika_ you wouldn't fight me. _I'm_ your friend" Jamie purred in a taunting tone.

"No! You're not him!" I was terrified, in shock. It suddenly felt like a very bad idea to have come into battle. I should have listened to him. I should have stayed with our class. I shouldn't have been so damn stubborn. It was at that point I realised I was crying, that my heart was breaking. I couldn't fight him. I didn't want to, he was my _friend_ and it was _my_ fault he was damned to life as a monster!

The battle around us died down as the strigoi retreated and the guardians followed, figuring i could deal with the one in front of me (even if i was a distraught mess), for _it_ was a newly made one and wouldn't have the strength or speed to fight me if I fought back. Which I wasn't going to do, but they didn't know it.

Jamie smirked and grabbed me. I found myself struggling against him but it didn't last long. "I always thought you were stronger, _Rika_." He commented before biting into my neck.


End file.
